Twelve Angry Men (Penguin Classics)
by Reginald Rose
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Book Summary Information
Author: Reginald RoseIntroduction: David Mamet
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-29
ISBN: 0143104403
Number of pages: 96
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780143104407
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Twelve Angry Men (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Reasonable Doubt on Trial
Summary: 5 Stars
On April 24, 2008, I was fortunate enough to see a mesmerizing production of "Twelve Angry Men," the professional Equity touring company of the Roundabout Theatre's 2004 rendering of the play. The road company starred Richard Thomas as Juror Number 8, but this play is an ensemble acting piece, not a single star vehicle.
In the play the all-white jurors have no names:
#1 is the foreman, a high school football coach
#2-a fairly neutral guy whose kid has the mumps
#3-sadistic, has had run-in with his own son, nasty, says of the defendant, "He's got to burn."
#4-a methodical note-taker who wears glasses
#5-grew up in the slums
#6-an ordinary Joe, a house painter
#7-rabid sports fan who wants to be at his ball game, will change his vote just to get out of the jury room
#8-an architect, man who has doubts, has courage to buck the crowd, without his kind, justice would perish
#9-an observant old man
#10-a racist who spouts his venomous bias about "them"
#11-an immigrant with a German accent who has more faith in democracy than some native-born Americans
#12-an advertising man who goes along with the crowd
Jurors Numbers 3, 7, and 10 are the "bad guys."
The jury is asked to render a death sentence verdict for a sixteen-year old troubled kid who is accused of killing his father. The first vote reveals eleven are in favor of a guilty verdict, and Juror Number Eight votes "not guilty" because he has doubts. The play is about the jurors' lack of understanding of the legal concept of "reasonable doubt." These are not impartial jurors. The boy's defense counsel did a poor job, but the jurors acted more on prejudice than on fair-mindedness. They were too quick to pull the switch on a human life.
It's a melodrama in which everything happens too quickly. The audience has to suspend its disbelief for this play that was performed without an intermission when I saw it. The author uses gimmicks, but they work.
Though the action of the play took place in 1954, it could take place today, because juries still haven't learned to grapple with "reasonable doubt."
Summary of Twelve Angry Men (Penguin Classics)
The Penguin Classics debut that inspired a classic film and a current Broadway revivalReginald Rose's landmark American drama was a critically acclaimed teleplay, and went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. A blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic belief in the U.S. legal system. The story's focal point, known only as Juror Eight, is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal biases. Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture of America, at its best and worst, to form.
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